Six courageous swimmers have successfully swum the English Channel, to raise money for the spinal injury charity, Aspire. The swimmers set off from Dover at 02.00am on 3rd August and arrived slightly along the coast from Calais just over 14 hours later at 17.25pm.
The team swam the 22 miles (although with tides would have swum nearer 40 miles), with each swimmer competing in relays of an hour at a time, wearing only swimming costumes, a swim hat and goggles, making this one of the toughest challenges imaginable.
The team of brave swimmers included; Rosie Williams, centre manager at Aspire; Claire Barratt, a teacher; Lucy Ranford, just completed a degree in Sports Science; Kay Hughes, the waiting list manager for cardiology at Queen Alexandra Hospital, Cosham; Matt Drew, park ranger for the Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park Authority and Charles Perkins, a doctor.
The team had a fantastic start and crossed the shipping lanes much earlier than they’d expected. At one point it was looking hopeful they might even beat the 12 hour mark, but then the weather took a turn for the worst. Charles was suddenly being buffeted against the side of the boat as a force five wind struck. Everyone in the boat turned a shade of green but the mood remained defiant and several hours later, Claire reached France on behalf of the team.
The team’s progress was recorded on our twitter feed twitter.com/AspireCharity
Rosie Williams, who updated the Aspire Twitter and Facebook pages throughout the swim commented at one stage, “Rosie does not recommend swimming in Force 5 – literally the worst experience of my life.” A few hours later her tone had changed to, “Finally after 14 hours, 25 mins and 27 seconds we made it to France!!! I'm so proud of everyone!”
“I am truly humbled to have watched six complete this amazing crossing – particularly given the conditions!’’ commented the swim team Manager, Andrew Ogierman.
We are now inviting everyone to take part in this year’s Aspire Channel Swim, from 13th September to 5th December and swim the length of the channel in your local swimming pool over the 12 week period. For more details visit www.aspirechannelswim.co.uk or e-mail swim@aspire.org.uk